A day after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is competent to become the prime minister, senior BJP leaders Gopinath Munde and Arun Jaitley and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu endorsed her view.

“Modi is one of the candidates for the PM’s post in the BJP. I support whatever Sushma Swaraj has said about him. His capability makes him a prime ministerial candidate. Even (Bihar CM) Nitish Kumar has said that he would support a BJP candidate for the PM’s post, whoever he may be,” Munde said in Vadodara.

Arun Jaitley, another senior party leader, said the BJP is proud of the fact it had a leader like Modi and he is so popular and a “successful CM” that it is “natural” the party will keep his name “ahead” in the prime ministerial aspirants.

In Patna, Bihar BJP chief C P Thakur claimed that Swaraj’s endorsement of Modi’s candidature was the “broad view” of the party leadership.

“Sushmaji’s endorsement of Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate represents the broad view of the party leadership and not her personal opinion alone. Not only Sushmaji but also Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and other senior leaders have echoed similar sentiments in favour of Modi,” Thakur claimed.

However, another senior party leader, Venkaiah Naidu, who was in Gujarat to address rallies, said that the BJP would decide a candidate for the top post at an appropriate time.

Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh took a dig at both Swaraj and BJP veteran L K Advani, saying she must first make clear if Advani agreed with her on Modi being fit for the top post.